Per Diem is Great...

Per diem might help the driver up in Canada but it doesn't in the U.S. because the companies down here cut your pay.

 

OK for someone like myself, brand new to the industry, still in the research phase. Will someone please explain exactly what "per Diem Means, i see people talking "about it" but i haven't seen exactly what it is?

How does it lower vacation pay, Benefit the employer. the 52 $ a day, does that get advanced to you or something, why would companies even advertise this if it's not a "good" thing for the drivers?
~E

 

Start by reading the link I gave on the 1st page of this thread to get a feel for what the IRS authorizes. Then others will hopefully chime on how comanies they have or do work for handle it for their drivers.

 

The "per diem" that these companies are "Paying" to you do not equeal the $41.60 a day you are gone from the yard!PERIOD! 41.60x7= 291.20 for 7 days. Ask any of these drivers "forced" to get perdiem pay on their pay checks if they see that amount added to their CPM pay? Nope and then some of these slimeball companies actually CHARGE the driver a "small" amount for the "priveledge" of doing this for them! In these days of paycuts do you see any of these bottom feeders doing something for you for FREE? Not in this century so far!
Now look at your pay stub at the GROSS amount you made. They are "taking" this money out before taxes so it "appears" like you do not get what you actually earned over the years time. Now if you get fired , laid off of something to loose your job and you apply for unemployment you will NOT gt what is actually owed to you! If you actually made 1000 and then their per diem"scam" shows you only made $800 then guess what? Unemployment will only pay you the lesser amount! Well that's what the company turned in to the IRS isn't it? The same goes for a home, car, or personal loan. You get a loan based on what you made and well if you're "not making" x amount of dollars you can pretty much kiss the loan good bye especially in these economical times!
The thing is the IRS might get involved in this as what is happening is the company is taking how many days you wee out and deducting this from your actual pay and then paying taxes on that amount. How much longer do you think the IRS will fall for this with billions of dollars walking out the doors every day? Not much longer and these companies will wind up paying some rather large fines and I would NOT want to be there whn jobs gex axed!

Question was asked how do you show the days you were out? The log book you fill out every day! I keep each month in my book (I could care less if DOT looks at more than 8 days! I use DDL and it's always right so let them waste their time at the scales) until the 8th of the next month then transfer the pages to my tax book. On the first dy of each month I go through the pages adding up each day I'm out for 9 hours or more! Then I write on day 1 "26,27,30 days out and then also write this on the front of the manila envelope i keep for the log books! Simple and easy. A TIP: You've heard people tell you to keep your records for only 7 years? Not entirely true! You must keep a representative account of anything over 7 years old. Me, I just keep buying another big office file box when the old one gets full and if an audit comes in year 10 I have no problem showing the IRS where they screwed up! I was trying to put it all on the computer but that got to be to much like work! LOL. Big boxes with dated envelopes work the best!
Hope this shed a little light on the matter.
Good Luck
Rollover

 

Good post Rollover. Thanks for explaining that in an easy to understand way. Now they can read it and see how much they're getting screwed by these outfits..........

 

If you are from Michigan or another sales taxing state, be careful of out of state credit card charges - they are currently on a sales tax witch hunt, so if you are audited, not only will they look at incomes taxes, but they will scrutinized for missed sales tax opportunities.

 

I am confused... if per diem is not taxable (you exclude it from your taxes), then how is your taxable wage influenced if the company gives it to you or if you do it yourself? Because if all that is considered is your gross wages on your pay stub, then it includes phone reimbursement (taxable), 125 Plan opt out payments (taxable), but it doesn't include any Simple IRA contributions or Insurance premiums taken out of your check. What am I missing?

 

I know people buy carpet in Dalton Ga. and have it shipped here. They pay no sales tax.

 

We just survived an sales tax audit by the state of Michigan. Thank goodness we document everything, but when talking to the Sales Tax auditor, Rashid, he said that in the next 2 years or so, that individuals and independent contractors will be the next ones hit up for an audit. The percentage could go as high as 20% of tax filers.

 

As an accounting manager for a trucking company, we are looking a offering per diem because it has been requested by some drivers.

That being said, we want to be fair to both the company and our drivers. What is the best per diem set up you can think of (how was it calculated, how did it pay, what was the effect on the driver) and the worst.